Do you “believe to be born again” or are you “born again to believe”?

No it’s not a riddle. It is not even a trick question. I while back some of my friends kept asking, “Why has Michael become a “Reformed Christian” after several years in prosperity driven and seeker sensitive churches?” So to make things alot easier to understand I thought it’s best to go back to the Bible and back to basics. What exactly does it mean to become a Christian?

I have come to believe that Salvation begins with an unfailing work of God in the hearts of all those who will believe. While most churches in our current day believe that you “believe to be born again”, like the Reformers and Puritans I have come to believe the opposite about that; my belief is that you are “born again to believe” (see the change in order?).

Here’s a simple quiz for bible believing Christians. Click the link below and see whether you truly believe that God is sovereign over the salvation of souls. When you say, “God saved me”, do you mean that? Or do you (at least somewhat) feel that you caused yourself to be saved by making a “decision to follow Him”? Do you believe as one modern crusade evangelist said, that “salvation is 99% God, and 1% man”, or instead, is salvation 100% the work of God? How much power does God exercise over our lives and future versus how much does He “leave up to us”? It seems like a minor issue to some, but you’d be surprised to know how many things this effects in the way you live out the Christian life.

Take the quiz, and feel free to leave a comment here afterwards. But make sure you’ve got your bible handy. Here we go:

That was your first lesson in theology that underscores the biblical fact that Salvation begins with a work of a Sovereign God in the heart of a helpless sinner also known as Reformed Theology or Calvinism. Next lesson, pick up your Bible and read…read and read. 🙂